


Musical Escapades

by pmrin



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Shiota Nagisa-centric, au- nagisa plays french horn because i said so, i always forget thats a tag but thats all of my fics anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:21:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29969745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pmrin/pseuds/pmrin
Summary: Nagisa isn't the best at everything, whenever someone asks about his hobbies he usually just says "comics," but he's never mentioned to 3-E his ability to play the French horn.
Relationships: Akabane Karma & Shiota Nagisa, Class 3-E & Shiota Nagisa
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30





	Musical Escapades

**Author's Note:**

> he will play french horn and he. will. like. it.

Nagisa winced again at the sharp sound that pierced the air. 

Karma thought it would be a great idea if he could try out one of Nagisa’s hobbies, just for fun. The thing neither of them considered was that Nagisa’s only hobbies were comics and his French horn for concert band. Nagisa hadn’t actually performed in a while, being in E-Class he was basically kicked out of every school activity except for the actual school part, including band. 

But, he loved music, loved  _ playing _ music. He still practiced every day, because it was just better than nothing, and why not. He wanted to improve, and he always heard how practice makes perfect. Plus, his mom was always on his back about it.

The rest of 3-E didn’t actually know much about his affiliation with music. Except Karma, who was now blowing as hard and as loud as he could into Nagisa’s poor French horn.

“Karma, you’re basically assaulting it,” Nagisa mumbled. 

Karma was red in the face, lips swollen from trying to buzz into the mouth piece for so long. He was also leaning back slightly, French horn rested on his lap as he tried to catch his breath.

Karma brought the French horn up to his lips again, and Nagisa tried to examine just exactly what he was doing wrong. Honestly, it could be a number of things, from breath control to fingering to lip position. So, Nagisa watched closely. 

Karma took his breath and pressed his mouth against the piece, and Nagisa noticed it.

“You’re not buzzing right.”

“I’m going to kill whoever invented buzzing,” Karma groaned. Nagisa could tell he was getting a bit flustered at this point. Buzzing was probably the only thing Karma was doing wrong, well in terms of not being able to get a note out. 

“It’s not really like a relaxed feeling.” Nagisa pressed his lips together tightly and blew through them, bracing his core and taking his breath deep in his chest.

Karma let out a sharp laugh. “You sound like a bee.”

“You’re supposed to!” Nagisa defended. He reached forward and grabbed the French horn, pulling the mouthpiece off to clean it.

Karma leaned back on his elbows and watched Nagisa press the piece against his mouth. When he blew into it, a clean note came out perfectly. Karma squinted toward Nagisa. “How did you do that?”

“You just buzz.” Nagisa didn’t really know how else to describe it.

“Thanks, that’s such a detailed response, I know exactly what to do now.” 

Nagisa laughed slightly and looked towards Karma’s ceiling as he tried to figure out an explanation for it. Really, all it was was buzzing. You press your lips together as tight as you can and blow. He guessed it was more of a practice thing than anything else.

“Let’s take a break for a bit…” Nagisa offered.

Karma pursed his lips for a second, and Nagisa had a feeling he really didn’t want to take a break, but there wasn’t much else they could do. 

Nagisa pressed his knuckles against his mouth and took a deep breath. “When you buzz, you don't want the air to come out of multiple places, but keep it centered on your lips, like a pinhole of air.” Nagisa winced. That was probably the worst explanation possible. As much as he loved teaching, something about music was harder than anything else. How does he explain the exact position and technique of someone’s mouth? It wasn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world. 

Nagisa gently pressed the mouth piece back onto the body of the French horn, and handed it to Karma to try just one more time.

“Try a C.” Nagisa pulled Karma’s hands and fingers into the right positioning. He figured it was the easiest note, it was pretty much in the center of the horn’s range and was the first note Nagisa learned, anyway. 

Karma brought it up to his lips again, and Nagisa prepared to hear another sharp, pitchy noise. But he didn’t. It was shaky at first, and kind of out of tune, actually, but Karma actually reached the note. Both of their mouths hung open and there was a beat of silence before Karma smirked triumphantly and glanced towards Nagisa. Nagisa just smiled at him, glad that he was actually able to do it.

“I’m already on course for beating you at this thing.” Karma smiling his signature smirk.

“Yeah, sure.” Nagisa just grabbed the mouthpiece, along with the rest of the horn, and cleaned it again, before returning it to his case. “Do you wanna just…” Nagisa trailed off. He didn’t want to go back home, but he also wasn’t exactly sure what there was to do at or around Karma’s house. He hadn’t been over in a long time. 

Karma just fell back onto his bed and stretched out slightly. Like a cat, Nagisa noted. “We can play games.”

Nagisa’s gaze fell over to the gaming set that Karma had. “Sure.” he smiled. 

\---

Not much really came out of the French horn “lesson.” Nagisa was fine with that, Karma didn’t really like music in the same way that Nagisa did, and despite just a general lack of interest in learning a completely new hobby, Nagisa knew Karma preferred more rock-like music than classical, anyway.

To Nagisa, playing an instrument was one of the most fun things he could do. It felt nice to just hear the music he was able to play, and his improvement on his instrument. Despite not having the best grades, Nagisa was one of the best French players in the concert band, though there was intense competition. Nagisa wasn’t really good at anything else, so he tended to dedicate himself to his horn as much as possible. 

Whenever the class got into a discussion about their free time and what they did, Nagisa wasn’t sure why he did it but he couldn’t bring himself to say “I play French horn!” It wasn’t like he was embarrassed (maybe a little) He just knew that the only other person that played an instrument in their class was Chiba, though he didn’t talk about it much either. Nagisa thought about it for a second, Chiba didn’t talk much at all, honestly. 

Maybe someone else did but was hiding it just like Nagisa. Actually, it wasn’t like he was  _ hiding _ it, either (maybe a little), it just never came up often. 

Anyway, whenever talk of hobbies came up, Nagisa usually just said “comics.” It was easier, and plus, at least he could actually talk to others about comics. Usually he ended up talking to just Karma about Sonic Ninja, but sometimes he’d talk with Fuwa too. She and Nagisa didn’t really read the same kinds of comics though, he didn’t care much for romance. 

It might be an explanation for why the class was so shocked, except Karma. 

As usual, the class had to attend an obligatory assembly. None of them wanted to go of course, being the center of ridicule wasn’t the most fun or how the class wanted to spend their day. Luckily, the presentation was short, and, at Bitch-Sensei’s request, the class was waiting for a bit before returning up the mountain. The principal wanted to speak to their teacher’s about the student’s progress, anyway. 

That left 3-E to just roam around campus, and that’s when Nagisa had his idea. 

The class was surprisingly allowed to roam around the building itself, too, since most of the classes in the main building were still on their break. 

Nagisa saw Chiba and Hayami walk somewhere toward the gym and Kanzaki and Kataoka go up to some of their nicer teachers just to catch up. 

Nagisa hadn’t been to the concert room in a while.

Despite the brainwashing of quite literally most of the entire staff, his concert director was one of the nicest teachers he’d met from the main campus. He was fun and forgiving when you missed a note or didn’t have your music. He was also the one that taught Nagisa all he’d known about horn and music in general. 

When Nagisa pushed open the door, though, the room was empty of people, including his director’s office. He was sure that the director wouldn’t mind seeing Nagisa, he even voiced his disappointment when he knew Nagisa would be pulled from the concert band and put into E-Class. The only thing Nagisa had ever really been super confident about was his musical ability, he knew his way around the French horn, so being pulled from the club disappointed the director almost as much as it did Nagisa. 

What wasn’t missing from the room, was the entrance to the storage room. 

That room held instruments for those that didn’t have their own, or instruments that were too big or fragile to take home, like tubas and snare drums. Nagisa peeked his head into the room and saw where the brass instruments were held. His gaze immediately flew to the French horns. He figured his director definitely wouldn’t mind him practicing a little bit. 

Nagisa grabbed one of the cases and returned back to the main room, sitting down on one of the chairs next to a metal stand. Opening the case, he found the horn inside. It looked a bit old and definitely not in its prime, but he knew it would work all the same. 

As he assembled the horn, which was really just put-the-mouth-piece-on-the-horn-part, he realized he didn’t have any of the music he was currently working on with him (obviously), but there was  _ also _ a music library. So he glanced towards the room and walked up to the many shelves and boxed inside, holding countless copies of countless pieces. Was this vandalism? Or stealing? Nagisa tried not to think about it as he pulled out the horn part for Franz Strauss’  _ Nocturno, Op. 7 _ . It was one of his favorite pieces, and probably one of the most beautiful horn pieces he’s ever heard. 

He didn’t have the piano that usually accompanied the piece, obviously, but it was just as beautiful with only the horn as it was with the piano. Nagisa wasn’t sure if he had time for the full piece itself. He knew it was around six minutes long, he’d listened to it enough times to remember that much about it, but he could play a bit of it, at least. 

He went back over to where the horn was sitting on the seat and carefully placed the music down onto the stand. Honestly, he was surprised his director had this song at all, since it wasn’t a very inclusive piece for the rest of the band, but he wasn’t going to complain. Picking up the horn, he held it close to his stomach. It was a familiar feeling, his hands immediately finding the bell and the keys. 

He stood up from the chair, facing the stand as he brought the horn up to his lips. Bracing his abdomen, he took a deep breath and blew.

It wasn’t a very fast song, in fact it was more slow and sensual than most other songs Nagisa played. It had a large range, octave jumps from low to high, and smooth transitions. You could go from the end right into the start and barely realize that the song repeated. It sounded best with the piano accompaniment, honestly, but Nagisa had just as much fun playing the horn as a complete solo than anything else. 

Sometimes, when Nagisa plays his horn, especially during a song he’s played or heard countless times, it’s easy to just forget where you are. It’s easy for him to just get lost in his own notes and barely notice if he made a mistake or if his tone was off, or if he took a breath at just the wrong moment. All he could hear was the song itself, in fact, he would barely even register that it was himself playing the piece. 

It didn’t happen often, but there were definitely moments like that where Nagisa just loses all of his observational skill and all he can focus on is the music in front of and around him. There was a particularly loud and high note towards the end, a jump up from the lower register that he was previously playing, and it almost made Nagisa sad that it was coming to an end. 

Until he realized that the song was  _ coming to an end _ , which meant Nagisa had been there for a good ten minutes, which was longer than their teachers had told them to take if they were going to be inside. 

Before he could even actually finish his note, he quickly sat back down and reached for the horn’s case. He pulled the mouthpiece off and ran towards the directors office to clean it, but as he turned around he noticed he wasn’t alone.

Behind him, apparently, was half of his class, as well as his old director. 

Nagisa was practically frozen mid-stride, mouth slightly ajar as he stared at his friends in front of him.

“Holy shit,” Nakamura mumbled. 

Sugino gasped, “Nagisa kun that was amazing! I didn’t know you played music, wow…” Him and Maehara walked over to the stand that Nagisa still had his music on. 

Nagisa turned to his director, who had walked over to him, holding a cleaning solution and a paper towel, “Is that a school horn?” 

“Uhm-” 

“Nagisa kun!” Nagisa turned back towards Maehara, who was now holding the pages of music in his hands, “Is this a hard song? I can’t read music.”

“It’s kind of hard, I guess-” 

“Yes,” his director cut in. Nagisa blushed and looked down towards the mouthpiece he was cleaning. 

He wasn’t embarrassed, no. He knew he was at least okay at playing, but for others to find out about it made him a little nervous. 

His director continued, “Nagisa kun was one of the best hornists I’ve had the pleasure of teaching. The song itself takes a while to get the hang of, it’s not impossibly hard, but it’s not the easiest thing in the world to play,” He turned towards Nagisa now, “I’m surprised your class didn’t know that you played horn.”

Nagisa smiled a bit abashedly, “It just never came up, I guess…” 

“It was really pretty, your playing,” Kayano’s voice rang from behind him, who was examining the horn itself. Nagisa mumbled a ‘thank you’ and walked over, gently taking the horn and placing it back into its case, along with the mouthpiece. 

“It was the song that was pretty, I just played it,” He mumbled.

Now Karma was behind him, “Still,” He started, “It takes a good player to play a good song.” 

Nagisa just stared up at Karma, it was a nice thing to say and he didn’t get compliments from Karma often. Karma and his director were the only one here that actually knew he played, but even Karma didn’t really ever get to hear Nagisa play.

“It sounded really beautiful,” Karma mumbled. It sounded more like he was just saying it to himself than actually to Nagisa, and he had this odd expression on his face. 

Karasuma Sensei’s voice rang out from the entrance of the band room, explaining that it was time they headed back up the mountain to continue class. Nagisa quickly ran off to the storage room again to place the horn back in it’s previous home, and when he returned to the main room his classmates were gone, save for Karma and his director. 

“I put the sheet music, away, don’t worry,” he smiled softly towards Nagisa, “Even though you’re no longer in the concert band, feel free to come here after class if you want to practice or look at a new piece.” 

Nagisa beamed up at his old director. He really did miss being in concert band, though it hadn’t been that long since he had left. His mother pulled him out halfway through second year, because she wanted him to focus on his grades more. He missed the environment, though, and the constant reminder to practice and improve. 

“Well, I won't hold you up, you should get back to your class.” His director turned, “And  _ I  _ have some auditions to grade,” he walked over to his office, gently shutting the door behind him.

Karma turned towards Nagisa, “The whole class is going to find out.” Nagisa could practically see the devil horns. 

“I don’t mind…” Nagisa started walking towards the exit in an attempt to catch up with the rest of the class. 

Karma trailed lazily after him, “I knew you wouldn’t.” 

Really, Nagisa didn’t mind it. He was more relieved that they liked his playing over, well, not liking it. It  _ was _ a little embarrassing, though, for someone (a group) to just watch him playing without knowing. 

They could add French horn to his list of hobbies now, at least. 

**Author's Note:**

> this is my advertisement for franz strauss' nocturno op. 7 go listen if you like horn and piano. also, my friend wrote a crack thing where nagisa used the horn as a sonic boom to blow up his band director who was going to arrest him for using the school horn. the original prompt that prompted this was actually about karma trying out one of nagisas hobbies and i just remembered how for like a week straight i thought about him playing the french horn and it just ended up being the class finds out he is really good at playing the horn (and it ended up longer than i intended)  
> there were so many times i couldve made this into karmagisa but aaaa


End file.
